Diary of an Arcade Employee

Cinnamon Bear OTR Show

The Cinnamon Bear was an old radio show which was broadcast 6 days a week, from Thanksgiving until Christmas. It consists of 26 episodes, 15 minutes in length (an odd duration these days, but fairly common at the time), and tells an “Alice in Wonderland” type tale of two kids who get whisked away into a magical land in search of their missing holiday star. They meet many strange creatures and magical beings, such as the crazy quilt dragon and santa claus, as they are guided in their quest by the titular cinnamon bear, Paddy O’ Cinnamon. The story is told in typical serial fashion, with each episode ending on a cliffhanger, which is quickly resolved in the next episode, but then replaced by a new dilemma.

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4 thoughts on “Cinnamon Bear OTR Show”

mwentworthsays:

Drahken, Thanks for posting this now. Up until very recently, this show aired on Portland radio every year, an episode a day up till Christmas eve. The Cinnamon Bear has remained a tradition, for whatever reason in Portland and, I believe in Chicago as well. When I was a kid in the 70’s, Cinnamon Bear was always with santa at the Meier & Franks Dept stores, Santa gave you a candy cane and the Cinnamon Bear gave you a Cinnnamon Bear shaped ginger cookie. The local riverboat cruise line still has a Cinnamon Bear cruise with a giant costumed bear to keep you company: http://www.cinnamonbearcruises.com/

We never had any kind of OTR broadcast in any area I’ve ever lived, just the standard pop music & yakkety yakking radio. I had never even heard of cinnamon bear until I found it on the internet a number of years back. It would have been fantastic if I had been able to grow up with it as a tradition. Coming into it for the first time as an adult it doesn’t have as much appeal as it would have had I been able to first encounter it as a kid (for obvious reasons), but even so, it’s still a fun story to experience. Even when you’ve never heard it before, it still manages to create the atmosphere of rewatching a favorite old holiday special from your childhood.

It’s time for the Cinnamon Bear once again!! Follow the link and start listening this Friday. A daily dose will bring you right to the story’s climax on Christmas Eve!!
The music in this series is super memorable with one exception; let’s see if anyone can pick out the song I can’t stand.